North East Fountain Factorty rep. full of SH!T..WATCH HIM

[SEA-YA]

I bought a 29' Cuddy Fountain three years ago and had a bunch of small problems with it.After 5 trips back to the factory everything got fixed except the livewell would not drain and the radio remote on the dash would never work.Paying big bucks for this new boat you would want everything working..Took it to a local dealer last spring and we,I helped,had to take the livewell out of the boat and because the drain from livewell was facing toward the helm instead of the side of the boat and this was kinking the hose it wouldn't drain.Few hours and a few hundred $$ later we had it back together and draining right for the first time since I had the boat.Fountain said they had done enough even though this was a factory defect they would not pay to fix it.Didn't even want to ask about the radio at this point.

Last summer I talked to the North East Fountain factory rep. Chuck Arnold living in northern Va.He told me if I had anymore problems with the boat he would try and take care of them.I told him about the radio and that the boat's bow was sitting low on the trailer and the only way to fill it up with gas was jack the front of the boat up so the fuel tank air pocket where the vent is would be up.If I tried to fill it just sitting on trailer it poors gas out from where I'm filling it because the vent will not vent with the tank sitting low in the bow.I couldn't get the last ~30 gal. in tank.Solution was adjust boat on trailer.

Here's what happenned.I met Chuck through a friend who was looking at buying Chuck's Fountain boat.
For a month I tried to meet Chuck at a local Fountain dealer.I finally took boat to dealer and left it.About a month later Chuck goes by and looks at boat.He said the trailer was not built by fountain and I agreed and he didn't know if he could get someone from Magic Tilt to pay for adjusting trailer.He said he would call.Well a month and a half goes by and I've called Chuck many times.He tells me two weeks before Thanksgiving the boat trailer and radio would be fixed and would be ready after Thanksgiving.Well 2nd week of Dec. nothing has happened.Then a week later after b!tching some more the dealer tells me my boat is ready.
This is when things HEAT up.

I go to get boat and the dealer says I can't get it until I pay the $669 bill on the trailer.{The dealer payed to fix trailer}I said DO WHAT?
I then call Chuck and he tells me he isn't paying for sh!T.He says I wanted it fixed and he fixed it.I told him if I wanted to pay for it I could have carried it 10 miles instead of 50 miles down the road and got it fixed in a week instead of two months .It was never on the trailer right from the start.I didn't realize the trailer could be redone untill last summer to fix this problem or I would have b!tched about it earlier.The boat had been there for over 2 months and the radio was still broke and I payed the $669 to get the boat back.
I'm sorry for this long post but I had to vent.

What would some of you had done?
I felt I was screwed by the Fountain rep Chuck for not asking me if I would pay for trailer.I asked him that I thought he called the trailer people and he said he did but THEY NEVER CALLED HIM BACK.HE COULD HAVE TOLD ME THAT INSTEAD of "IT WILL BE READY IN TWO WEEKS."

For $669 I would have kept jacking the trailer up when I needed to fill it.Only filled it up when I was going offshore 8-10 time a year.It hold 207 gals. but I always liked it full running 50-60 miles out.

OK I'm finished.

[codfather]

Small claims court? Hope your freind was turned off from buying after seeing how well the rep took care of yesterday's customer.

[SIM]

SEA-YA,

Sorry to hear about your issues.

Did you buy the boat new?*If so where's the selling dealer's response*in all this? Did they sell you the trailer?

Seems to me that the trailer problem would the selling dealer's problem. Fountain should have made($$$) the livewell right.*IMO.......

SIM

[Tailwalker]

Man, that sucks.

Couple things, first as a past Fountain owner I feel your pain. After about owning the boat for a month and the numerous problems I had the factory rep basically just stopped calling me back.

Since I work in the industry (insurance side) I knew how to make their life miserable and got great satisfaction out of doing so for the next several months. I also usually prefer to just take care of most of these kind of new boat problems myself since experience has tought me the more times a boat goes back for warranty issues, etc, the more they screw it up, ding up the boat, scratch it up, etc. etc.

However,

First, in Va it is unlawful for a repair business (be it car, boat, whatever) to hold YOUR property prisoner until you pay the bill. First thing I would have done is called the police to get your boat released and advised you will take them up on the bill later.

If you didn't want to do that then you could pay by credict card and immediately call your bank and dispute the charge, which suspends the charge and the retailer does not get his money.

The other is to flat out report them to better business bureau and I would have called Fountain right then and there lighting them up for their reps reckless and unprofessional handling of this entire situation.

Clearly this was of little concern to the rep and he likely was only pacifying you since you had a friend that was looking at his own Fountain. Then after that didn't happen he likely just told the dealer to fix it and deal with you on the costs as Fountain was not going to cover it and then the dealer just saw it as a license to steal, which steal they did.

For what they charged you they could have likely replaced the front half of your trailer. You didn't say if you had a bunk (floaton) or roller trailer but there is no way in hell that it took that kind of labor or money to reposition a few things on the trailer. I should know as I have always done this sort of thing myself and it is so simple it's not funny. The dealer should be ashamed.

I don't know what they did for your radio or what was wrong with it (you didn't say) but hell, you could have bought a nice new standard for 200.00. Plus the wiring on all that stuff is simple too.

I would still call fountain, get the customer service mgr over there and flat let them have it on their reps mishandling of this matter. Advise them you expect them to take care of this and if not you may have to just file suit against their rep (as an agent of Fountain) and name fountain as well and draft them into a va court. For less than 1k they almost certainly are NOT going to want to have to hire counsel to defend either one of them and since the rep may have overstepped his boundry anyway by doing this there likely is a conflict of interest between him and Fountain which means they would have to hire two different atty's to defnd them.

I'm not giving you legal advice, just my opinion, ( you should consult a lawyer) but it looks like simple breach of contract to me. The problem is it is going to be your word against his. However, the general district judges hate big companies doing this kind of thing and likely would sock it to them.

Also, don't you live in Hanover? The hanover judges are hardcore on this sort of thing and likely would hammer Fountain and the rep on this and if you did any of this on the phone from your residence you can file it in Hanover.

I would not stand for this sort of double dealing crap.

I know your boat, see you out at the cell all the time. It's just a shame they do their business like this.

Just like when they refused to fix all the cracks forming in the stepped hull of my Fountain that started within 6 months of getting the boat. I ended up selling the boat before I had to really worry about it but had I not it would have gotten ugly. For all the other issues I had them send me all the parts, etc. and did it my self. They really like the consumer to do that and will gladly send all sorts of parts, etc. Plus they THINK that then lets them out for any future problems. (not that there would be any doing it myself) but I have always had good luck with boat companies doing things this way.

Good luck on this.

[SEA-YA]

Sim,The boat and trailer were bought new at Greenville Marine.They are almost 4 hr drive away.After the trailer got fixed I called Greenville Marine and they said bring it on down and they will fix it.I then told them it had already been fixed if they could help on the bill. I was told I got screwed if I paid that much to adjust the trailer and try and call Magic Tilt.

Tailwalker,the trailer was a bunk trailer that they had to cut/break welds loose on front supports that hold the front bunk and add longer pieces to get bow up.It was ~$110 for a s/s 2x2 piece to replace the shorter ones,$175 to take and put boat back on trailer and the rest labor.
The radio control on dash never worked right and now doesn't work at all and the removable face on radio kept falling off in rough water.Now I have the removable front taped on with duck tape.That duck take will fix anything.

I'm trying now to talk to Chuck's boss at Fountain.

"Sea-Ya"
Jeff

[FloridaDan]

I went on a poker run last year with the FPC and spoke with many dissatisfied Fountain owners who told stories very similar to yours. Mind you alot of these boats cost $ 250 K and up.

Rumors were flying around that Fountain is more concerned with pumping out the boats as fast as possible to make their balance sheet look good in the hopes that Brunswick will buy them out at a big price, with customer service not being a major priority like it used to be there.

[Tireless]

Sorry to hear about the problem Sea-Ya.* Going directly to the boss should help.* Keep us posted on what transpires.* I have a*real interest in the company doing the right thing, like it has been know to do in the past.

Re: the sale rumors......when one company buys another they perform due diligence.* This due diligence is intended to uncover potential problems and liabilities that may come due after the*acquisition closes.* If Fountain was purposefully dumping inferior product in the market the Brunswick boys would know about it and lower the value they would pay for the company (which happens to be a public company that R. Fountain owns more than 50% of).* Besides, what benefit does owning Fountain give Brunswick - every boat coming out of that shop is sporting Merc's anyway.

I would like to think Sea-Ya's experience is isolated and caused by a poor sales rep. that may need a good corporate spanking.* Good luck.

[SEA-YA]

I found out who Chuck's boss is and trying to get in touch with him now.


"Sea-Ya"
Jeff

[SEA-YA]

If anyone sees this guy at the NY boat show where he is now....RUNNNNN LIKE A SKALDED DOG....

[tidester]

No, don't run like a scalded dog.

Politely inform him that there is bad news floating around regarding Fountain customer service, and his reputation is quickly being destroyed. Let them know that they are not getting away with this kind of stuff, then walk away

[SEA-YA]

Thanks Tidester,you are right.

The local dealer has done nothing wrong.The owner didn't even know why my boat was there.It was a place for Chuck to inspect it.

Fountain factory has done nothing wrong.They did't make the trailer.
They did fix everything except the radio.Radio I'm asking about again now.

The boat dealer has done nothing wrong.He said bring it down and he would fix it.[This was after I got the bill.]Too late for that.

When I left it at the local dealer so Chuck could check it out ,he should have made some calls like he said he would and I think things would have came out different.If I knew he wasn't,I would have made some calls before paying to get it fixed.

I'm still making calls now..

Wish this thing had spell check so I wouldn't have to edit and still miss some.


"Sea-Ya"
Jeff

[Tireless]

Sea-Ya,

Dont wrroy abuot the splel chcek, noobdy else deos.* If yuo cna read tihs tehn why wrroy abuot a few wrods.

Good luck on getting it fixed.

[About Time]

Tireless, I had a problem reading that last sentance Sea-Ya, Good luck.. It's to bad there is almost as many S#*t - heads in the marine industry as there is good ones.

[Tireless]

Yep, we boaters aren't immune to that sort of jerk, unfortunately.* Besides the obvious problems with the boat/rep, how have you liked the 29?* We have one in our marina with 250 EFIs and that thing moves like a bat out of he%$.

[SEA-YA]

Tireless,it's a really nice rig.It came with cheap outriggers but I replaced them last year with Lee's sidewinders I can drop out from under the top.Nice feature.
It has twin 225 optis.It will run 60 in calm water.Love those calm days offshore.Was out 50 miles last year catching dolphin.Didn't find the grass and dolphin till 3pm,got limit,washed up,left from 50 miles out at 4:30 and was at OI dock at 5:30.Not many days like that.Looked like a big lake.Good gas milage too.It burns around 60-80 gals going offshore depending on seas.
I wish it had a little higher bow because trolling in 3-4' head seas the waves will break over the bow.
It has everthing but auto pilot.

"Sea-Ya"
Jeff

[Tireless]

Good to hear you like the rest of the boat.* I made a couple trips like the one you described, except for the mileage numbers.* I have to run 90-100 miles to get to true bluewater down here.***

[Mumblerone]

Personally, I'd include a copy of this thread when talking to Fountain.* I know that there is a lot of 'principal' stuff going on here, which is OK.* Having said that, I would take the issue off the front burner and enjoy.* Still persue, however!* For $700, Fountain has made a big mistake!* Keep us posted.* Thanks*

[sundancekid]

Chuck Arnold is a complete idiot, I have met him before and he is an arrogant know-it-all that don't know $hit! You need to contact customer service at the factory and avoid Chuck at all costs, he hasn't a clue as to what's going on around there. I have heard so many complaints about Chuck, it isn't even funny. Also you need to get your dealer to step upto the plate a little and git some stuff done. Our service department would not deal with any of the crap your dealer is taking from the factory. If you have any questions feel free to email me or send me a PM.

[SEA-YA]

UPDATE....
I tried many times to get in touch with Chuck's boss at Fountain and left messages I needed to talk to him about Chuck and he's no better than Chuck.He must not care about Fountain owners either just like Chuck.He never returned my calls.Chuck said he was going to get back with me after the NY boat show and it's been a week now and I haven't heard from him.I really didn't expect to.

The only one that has done anything was the local dealer Hayes Outdoors.Remember the boat was bought at Greenville Marine and they are four hours from me so I haven't dealed with them really.
Sonny Hayes payed 1/2 of the bill up front trying to make me a happy Fountain owner.He made some calls and the trailer factory is supposed to reimburse him .I got a credit for 1/2 of the payment and I hope the trailer people pay him like they said they would.Don't want it coming out of his pocket.

If anybody is interested in a boat near Richmond, go see Sonny Hayes at Hayes Outdoors.He's a good guy to work with .He sells Pro-line,Regal and Dozi.Oh yea,he still sells Fountains right now.I should have got a Dozi.He has a nice looking 34' cc there I looked at a few weeks ago.

I'll never deal with Chuck Arnold again and if anybody runs across him , let him know what you have been hearing about him and Fountain.

[Just1more]

Did you try calling/emailing Reggie?